Review: China DIY Travel

Want to go on vacation to China and get around there by train? If you have a set itinerary, it is best to buy tickets in advance, as they sell out quickly (hey, there are more than a billion people in China, and only so many seats).

That is exactly what we did on our two-week trip to China last month, thanks to China DIY Travel. There were four of us, and they bought us tickets for six trains. Although anyone can buy tickets online from the China Railway Customer Service Center official website, if you can’t read Chinese and don’t have a Chinese credit card, you’re out of luck.

There are other sites offering to buy train tickets in advance, but among the several that I checked, China DIY Travel has the lowest commission rates. In addition, most, if not all of the other sites only deliver paper tickets to an address in China. China DIY Travel, on the other hand, provides you with electronic tickets, which you exchange for the actual ones at the station. The latter was more convenient for us, as we moved around constantly and didn’t stay at one hotel for very long.

I had a great experience with China DIY Travel, and don’t hesitate to recommend them. Their website is very informative and has all the information you need. We’re definitely using their services again on our next trip to China.

During our penultimate train ride, we missed our connection due to the slowness of the train. Fortunately there was a passenger who spoke English, and she helped us get a refund authorization note from a train officer. I presented this at the station when we arrived, expecting a cash refund. The ticket officer explained to me, in an impromptu round of Pictionary because I couldn’t understand his English, that the refund will be sent to the credit card used to purchase the tickets (he drew a bunch of coins going to a credit card through an arrow lol). I emailed China DIY Travel when we got home, and they sent us the refund within two weeks.